Papermakers&#39; felt



July 9, 1968 E. z. FEKETE 3,392,079

PAPERMAKERS FELT I Filed May 22, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGQI.

FIG.4

y 1968 E. z. FEKETE PAPERMAKERS FELT 2 Shets-$heet 2 Filed May 22, 1964FINE FIBERS COARSE Fl BERS NON-WOVEN BASE COARSE FIBERS FIG. 5

FIG. 6

FINE FIBERS COARSE FIBERS BULKY YARNS TENSILE YARNS COARSE FIBERS FIG. 7

United States Patent 0 3,392,079 FAFERMAKERS FELT Eugene Z. Fekete,Amprior, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Hnyck Corporation, Rensselaer,N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed May 22, 1964, Ser. No. 369,561 12Claims. (Cl. 161-59) This invention relates to papermakers felts and toa process for making them, and more particularly relates to papermakersfelts formed by needling oriented fibers to a non-Woven base.

It has long been desired to devise a papermakers felt which has anon-woven structure and which may be made at relatively high speed andwithout the necessity for weaving a base. An article which attempted tomeet such requirements was the non-woven papermakers felt described inUS. Patent 2,943,379, issued July 5, 1960, which utilized a single arrayof longitudinal yarns. However, felts made in accordance with thatpatent are believed to be unsuitable for use as a paperrnakers felt.Such prior art felts were unstable and weak in the cross machinedirection.

The prior art felts are further believed to be deficient because theyare comprised of randomly oriented fibers which fail to provide adequatetensile strength to the assembled papermakers felt. Also, use ofpre-felted batts, as in the prior art, tends to make relatively fewerfibers and fiber ends available for interlocking and binding the feltinto a compact and cohesive structure.

It has been found that by pretreating yarns to cause them to cohere toeach other and by using non-felted, carded fibers, the maximum number ofloose fibers and fiber ends are available for entanglement and needlinginto a felted compact mass, and a practical papermakers felt isproduced. The prior art patent did not teach the criticality andadvantage of using carded fibers in nonfelted form. Neither did it teachthe use of oriented fibers or the advantage of entangling fibers fromthe carded mass with fibers from the yarns.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a papermakers feltwhich may be constructed without the use of conventional knitting,braiding or weaving operations on yarns made from fibers such as wool,cotton, nylon and other natural and synthetic fibers, and which hasimproved water drainage and air permeability as well as improved tensilestrength.

It is another object of this invention to provide a paperrnakers feltwhich is economical in preparation, may be prepared without costlyequipment set-ups and may be made at high speeds.

It is another object of this invention to provide a papermakers felthaving a paper-web-contacting surface of improved smoothness, softness,uniformity, resilience and freedom from objectionable patterns and whichwill not cause strike-through during normal paperrnaking operations.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a papermakersfelt of improved flexibility which is more efficient than felts ofequivalent weight per unit area, which has a long life and which iseconomical in manufacture and use, which has improved dimensionalstability and which is not susceptible to drawing-in.

it is another object of this invention to provide a papermakers felthaving a non-woven base in which nonwoven yarns are oriented in onedirection, and which has improved characteristics imparted by needlingto it fibers oriented in the cross yarn direction.

It is another object of this invention to provide a papermakers felt inwhich fibers from the surfacing layers are entangled with fibers fromthe yarns.

Other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the 3,392,079Patented July 9, 1968 art from consideration of the present disclosuretaken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view showing on an enlarged scale, theconstruction of the non-woven base, and the relative position of anumber of barbed needles in applyingfibers thereto;

FIGURES 2 and 3 are schematic cross-sectional views through a non-wovenbase and a plurality of layers of fibers thereon and show two barbedneedles in their lowermost position, FIGURE 2 being taken in a directionperpendicular to the yarns, and FIGURE 3 being taken in a directionparallel to the yarns;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic plan view, on an enlarged scale, showing therelationship between yarns and the fibers disposed at right angles tothem;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic view of an alternate embodiment of thepapermakers felt of this invention;

FIGURE 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view through then non-woven baseand a plurality of layers of fibers thereon showing another embodimentin which a plurality of layers of yarns of different natures are used;and

FIGURE 7 is a diagrammatic view of still another embodiment of thepapermakers felt of this invention.

While this invention will be described with regard to papermakers wetfelts, it is to be understood that the invention is applicable as wellto dryer felts, which conduct a paper Web through drying apparatus. Wetfelts convey wet paper webs through a portion of papermaking apparatus.Wet felts run as endless bands through a press section where water issqueezed from the web effectively increasing its solids con=istency, asa step in drying the web. Dryer felts run as endless bands through thedrying section of papermaking machines and dry a paper web by passing itover rotating, steam heated rolls or cans. The dryer felts hold the webin contact with the surfaces of the rolls, and also remove additionalwater by wicking.

The objects of the present invention may be accomplished by forming aloosely cohesive, gossamer base fabric from a plurality of spaced warpyarns and, in place of weft or filling yarns, needling fibers to one orboth sides of the base fabric. The preferred gossamer base fabric forthe present invention is one which is lightly self-cohesive and may behandled in processing. The present invention is directed to an array ofyarns to which successive layers of unfelted, highly oriented fibershave been attached and then felted by needling together. The fibersserve not only as finishing layers to present a smooth surface of softmaterial to the paper web but also act as transversely arrangedmechanical reinforcing devices.

It is a feature of this invention that the yarns which are used to formthe base fabric are abraded or fuzzy yarns, which are laid parallel toeach other and, due to fuzziness or spurious fibering, tend to interlockwith each other and entangle one with the other.

A feature of such an assembly lies in the novel combination of parallelfuzzy or spuriously fibered yarns along with fibers which are orientedsubstantially at right angles to the yarns and intimately entwined withthe yarn fuzz or spurious fibers. Without wishing to be bound by atheory of operation of the present invention it is believed that theyarns act as catenaries and so aid in increasing transverse strength. Aparallel array of strong, fuzzy fibered yarns are structurallyassociated with the encompassing batt material in such a fashion thatcross-machine forces applied to the batts are transferred to andsupported by the yarns. This is achieved by tangling fibers from thebatts with the fuzzy or spurious fibers from the yarns and may belikened to tying strings directly to cables. The same effect is producedby intimately entangling fibers from a batt layer on one side of theyarn array with fibers from the battlayer on the other side of the yarnarray which would be analogous to tying strings around a support cable.By this means, the batt fibers having been oriented generally in adirection at right angles to the axes of the yarns, cross-machinedirection forces will be transmitted through the entangled fibers to theyarns themselves. Since the batts are laid in soft (that is, notpre-felted) a multitude of batt fibers are available for entanglementwith each other and with the spurious fibers from the yarns. This isdifferent from the prior art, particularly due to the number of battfibers which can be made to effectively bridge between the batts and theyarns. In the prior art, the limited yarn exposure available forpenetration by batt fibers and the greater possibility of such fiberstearing free from the yarns will effect a strength transfer mediumcapable of tolerating much lower pressures or forces than those of thepresent invention.

The maximum advantages of the present invention may be obtained by theuse of embodiments which the base yarns are oriented in the machinedirection of the papermakers felt. Without wishing to be bound by atheory of operation and without detracting from the catenary theoryexplained above, it is possible that in such embodiments the yarns actas warp yarns and provide strength in the machine direction, While theoriented fibers act as weft yarns and provide strength in thecross-machine direction. However, some advantages are obtained inembodiments in which the base yarns are oriented in the cross-machinedirection of the papermakers felt. In the latter embodiments theparticular advantages of the present invention are realized to a greatextent in that the oriented fibers add a high degree of tensile strengthin the machine direction that was not achievable by prior art processesin which the product was made by use of pre-felted batts andparticularly where use was made of non-oriented, pre-felted batts. Theorientation of the fibers is preferably such that at least 70 percent ofthe fibers are laid with their longitudinal axes within degrees of thenonnal to the longitudinal axes of the yarns. In another embodiment ofthe invention multiple layers of fibers are oriented at substantiallyright angles to each other and disposed at substantially 45 degrees tothe longitudinal axes of the yarns.

It will be appreciated that the fibers are not strictly linear, but havea wavy configuration. Therefore, orientation of the fibers will beunderstood as referring to the general longitudinal axis of the fibersin the carding of the fibers. Also it will be appreciated that in thecarding of fibers it is not possible or practicable to align their axesentirely in the desired direction. However, in accordance with thepresent invention, it is highly desirable to align the axes of thefibers to the extent of at least 70% in one direction.

It has been found that greater strength characteristics are obtained byneedling oriented 'fibers to the base fabric, rather than utilizingpre-felted batts of fibers, even batts with oriented fibers. This isbelieved to be due to the fact that the relative freedom and loosenessof the fibers in the non-felted cards effectively provide more ends forneedling and thus permit a greater interlocking of the fibers with eachother, on both sides of the yarns, and with the fibers of the yarnsthemselves. However, in applications where tensile strength requirementsare not rigorous, it may be possible to utilize oriented fiber, prefelted batts in the preparation of the papermakers felt. It has beenfound that oriented fiber pre-felted batts provide substantiallyincreased tensile strength over nonoriented fiber pre-felted batts whenutilized in the preparation of papermakers felts.

It is another feature of this invention that the penetration ofindividual yarns by the needle barbs is not necessary in order toachieve a coherent self-sustaining papermakers felt. The interlocking ofthe fuzzy, spurious fibers of the abraded yarns is sufiicient to holdthe base fabric together. Thus, the fibers forming opposite sides of thefelt are not, of necessity, needled into the yarns but more importantlyare needled to each other and to the spurious fibers in order to form acompact self-sustaining papermakers felt. These features distinguish thepresent invention from prior art where it was necessary to needlethrough the individual yarns. In some embodiments it is advantageous tolimit the maximum spacing of the yarns by the length of the spuriousfibers and their degree of overlap in order to interlock.

The product of the present invention is a papermakers felt which has ahigh tensile strength and little tendency to shrink or draw-in in theweft direction, and which has better drainage, air permeability, andresistance to marking or strike-through. Also, because the yarncrossings are eliminated the felt has a higher degree of flexibilitythan felts having a woven base fabric of the same density.

The base fabric is preferably formed in endless fashion, as will bedescribed below. The yarns extend in the machine direction, and thefibers in the cross-machine direction of the belt-like felt beingproduced. If the fabric is formed fiat, the yarns will normally bepositioned in the machine direction of the felt to be producedtherefrom, and the fibers will be positioned in the cross-machinedirection and the ends joined to form an endless belt. It will beunderstood that the base fabric may be produced of any desired width orlength from yarns of any suitable character.

In a preferred embodiment of this invention the yarns are laid parallelto each other in a flattened helical configuration. The spurious fiberson adjacent yarns interlock forming an endless base fabric. Also, atleast one continuous yarn may be abraded and disposed in a helicalpattern such that fibers on adjacent yarn segments engage each other. Inaddition at least one spurious yarn may be disposed in a side-by-sidepattern so as to interlock fibers extending from adjacent segmentsthereof. Carded, oriented fibers are laid across both sides of the basefabric with the fibers oriented at right angles to the yarns. The fibersare then needled to form a felted, compact papermakers felt.

The unique step of abrading the yarns as they are laid in order to causefuzziness or spurious fibering is a feature of the process of thepresent invention. The optimum results are achieved with yarns which arereadily abraded to produce fuzziness or spurious fibers, such as platedyarns. Other features of the present process include entangling thefibers with the yarns and entangling the fibers of the yarns with eachother.

The felts of this invention may be produced by needling the fibers tothe non-woven base. However, a further improved felt is produced byneedling the fibers to a non- Woven base under conditions insuring hightensile strength of the felt in both the machine and the cross-machinedirection. For this purpose it has been found advantageous to provide aspecial relationship among the barbs of the felting needles and thedirection in which yarns of the base fabric extend and the generaldirection in which the longitudinal axis of the fibers of the battextend. The method and apparatus for needling a felt in this manner isdescribed in application Ser. No. 250,806, filed Jan. 11, 1963, by McKewet al, now Patent No. 3,230,599.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of that invention the barbsprovided on each needle extend in only one direction, or at most in twodirections, from the longitudinal axis of the needle. Thus, a needlehaving a triangular cross-section in the barbed region thereof will havethe barb extending outwardly from the axis of the needle at only onecorner or edge of the triangular configuration, or will have the barbssimilarly extending outwardly from two corners or edges from thetriangular configuration. When such needles are used in a needlingmachine, care is exercised to have all of the barbs on the multiplicityof needles extend in substantially the same direction or the same twodirections.

Also according to that invention, the direction in which the barbsextend from the needles should bear a quite definite relationship to thedirection in which the yarns and the longitudinal axes of the fibersextend. When the needle is of such character that its barbs extend onlyin one direction, the direction should be parallel to the yarns andperpendicular to the general or major direction in which the fibersextend. If the needles employed have barbs extending in two directions,these should preferably be at an angle of at least 120 to each other,and they should preferably be pointed at not more than 30 to thedirection in which the yarns extend, and preferably at least 60 to thedirection in which the general longitudinal axes of the fibers extend.

By performing the needling operation as described, the resulting felthas a high tensile strength in the yarn direction, and also a higherthan usual tensile strength in the fiber or weft direction. Thepreservation of tensile strength in the yarn direction results in partfrom the minimum damage done to the yarns, by virtue of having theneedle barbs extend in a direction parallel with, or at an angle ofpreferably not more than 30 to the yarns. Improved tensile strength inthe fiber direction results from the fact that any cutting or nicking ofthe fibers is more than offset by the fibers which are firmly secured tothe yarns and extend in the cross yarn direction to add to the tensilestrength in that direction.

In order to insure the desired extent of needling of the fibers into thebase, it is preferable to cycle the material through the needling zone anumber of times. The number of passes required to bring about thedesired attachment of the fibers to the base will depend upon thepenetration depth and density of needling, that is, penetrations perunit area, the latter being governed by the relative speeds of thereciprocating head of the needling machine and the advance of the work.

Fibers which may be used in the present invention are those useful intextile manufacture and include natural and synthetic fibers, includingplant fibers, such as cotton, jute, etc., natural animal fibers, such aswool, manufactured fibers, such as rayon, nylon, polyacrylics, polyvinylchloride, polyesters, etc., and copolymers of such synthetics.

The base yarns may be formed from either natural or synthetic materials,or a combination of these by wellknown methods. Preferably, thesynthetic fibers used in such yarns are staple fibers. The relativelycoarse card be comprised entirely of wool fibers or entirely ofsynthetic fibers, if desired. Where synthetic materials are used for thecard fibers they should be in the form of spun staple fibers.

The lightly cohesive, gossamer base of the present invention isillustrated in FIGURE 1. There, the base 10 is shown to be comprised ofyarns 12, 14, 16 and 1S. Extending from each of these yarns arehair-like spurious fibers, or fuzz, 20. The yarns 12, 14, 16 and 18 areplaced sufficiently close together that the hair-like fibers 20 from oneyarn becomes entangled with the hair-like fibers of the other yarnsadjacent to it. By this mechanism the yarns are made to cohere to eachother to an extent sufficient for the purposes of further fabrication inaccordance with the practice of this invention. A number of barbedneedles 22 are shown in order to indicate the relative position of theneedles and the yarns during needling.

FIGURES 2 and 3 are views taken at right angles to each other throughthe felt as it is being needled. As is shown in these figures, theneedles 22 have a number of barbs 24 engaging the oriented fibers 26which are disposed on both sides of the yarns 28. The fibers are driveninto each other resulting in an entanglement of fibers with each otherand with the hair-like fibers 2% appended from the yarns, causing aninterlocking of the fibers 20 and 6 26 both with similar fibers and witheach other, resulting in a compacted felt-like structure.

In the region of the needling machine in which a reciprocating head or aplurality of such heads is provided, a large number of needles 22 areforced downwardly through the fibers and through the base fabric. Thebarbs of the needles will carry portions of groups of fibers downwardlyand will leave them in substantially U-shaped loop form, as indicated inFIGURE 2, to present parallel leg portions in planes perpendicular tothe direction in which the barbs extend from the axes of the needles, orparallel with direction of orientation of the fibers. It will beappreciated that in the final product, the loops of fibers so producedwill have their legs much closer together and more nearly parallel thanis shown in the enlarged schematic view of FIGURE 2. -It will be furtherunderstood that the needles 22 are provided in a plurality of rows whichextend completely across the width of the material to be needled. Thereciprocating head or heads carrying the needles may be reciprocated ata suitable speed through a distance of say three inches, to carry thepointed ends of the needle downwardly through the fibers and the basefabric, from a point above the fibers to a point about a half inch belowthe base fabric.

FIGURE 4 is a plan view of a needled felt, greatly enlarged, showing thegeneral orientation of the needled fibers 26 and the yarns 12, 14, 16and 18 after needling.

The fibers which are oriented normal to the yarns may be all of onenature as to strength, fineness, etc., but two or more different kindsof fibers in the direction perpendicular to the yarns may be used. Thefibers may all be applied to one side of the fabric but are preferablyap plied to both sides thereof. A papermakers felt having good waterremoval and freedom from plugging, as well as reduced tendency to mark,may be made by needling relatively coarse fibers to a non-woven basefabric and further needling relatively fine fibers to the sheet side ofthe relatively coarse fibers.

The term relatively coarse fibers when used herein is to be understoodto mean one or more layers of fibers having a coarseness of 10 denier ormore, as defined by ASTM procedure D54060 with regard to synthetic orman-made fibers, and a coarseness of 44 wool grade or coarser, asdefined by AST M procedure D-419-61 with reference to natural fibers.

The term relatively fine fibers when used herein is to be understood tomean one or more layers of fibers having a coarseness of less than 10denier with regard to synthetic fibers and a coarseness finer than 44wool grade with regard to natural fibers.

The fine fibers next to the paper web improve the smoothness of thesheet and aid in water removal in certain applications by offering asurface of smaller capillary structure to the sheet. The outer,relatively fine, fibers contact the paper web without marking the webbecause of the resiliency and the fine textured pattern of the surfacelayer. Moreover, the relatively coarse fibers between the fabric and therelatively fine fibers provide physical strength, resistance to bendingand a relatively high void space. The strength and resistance to bendingof the relatively coarse fibers bridge over low spots or suction holesin the paper machine rolls and further reduce the tendency of the weavepattern or suction hole pattern to strike through, etc. The relativelyhigh void space in the coarse fiber layers provides volume for thestorage of Water expressed from the web, reduces the tendency of waterto back up at the press roll nip and prevents destruction of the web bycrushing, etc.

Another advantage of this embodiment of the papermakers felt is that anydebris passing through the rela tiveiy fine fiber layer passes freelythrough the coarse layer. Thus the felt is less susceptible to cloggingand plugging. Relatively coarse fibers on the drive side of the feltadjacent the paper machine rolls increase the life 7 of the felt,apparently acting as a wear shield of durable character.

FIGURE isa diagrammatic view showing a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention in which a nonwoven base similar to those describedabove is used, and a plurality of layers of different fibers aredisposed in an oriented arrangement adjacent the non-woven base andneedled to it. As shown in FIGURE 5, a layer of relatively coarse fibersis needled to each side of the nonwoven base. A layer of relatively finefibers is needled to the layer of relatively coarse fibers on the sheetside of the papermakers felt and runs in contact with the paper web asit is being transported through the papermaking machine. The fine fiberlayer provides a smooth flexible surface which is free from the tendencyto objectionable strike-through.

Where fibers are applied to both surfaces of the base fabric, the fibersmay be first needled to one surface, and the resulting product theninverted, and the second fibers applied to and needled to the oppositesurface of the base. Relatively coarse fibers are preferably needled insuch a way as not to disturb earlier applied relatively fine fibers.This may be advantageously accomplished by applying the relatively finefibers after the relatively coarse fibers have been applied, but mayalso be accomplished by needling in such a manner that the relativelycoarse fibers are not driven through the relatively fine fibers.

While the preferred embodiment of the present invention makes use ofonly one type of warp yarns arranged substantially in a plane, otheradvantageous embodiments make use of two or more arrays, or layers ofyarn in multiple planes. It has been found advantageous to utilize twoor more arrays of longitudinally extending yarns which have substantialstructural and functional differences from each other. Thus, one arrayof yarns may be made relatively large in diameter to supply cushion orbulk, even though they do not have sufficient tensile strength forpurposes of the structure. The second array may then be made oflongitudinally extending high tensile yarns which are needled to giveadded tensile strength in the longitudinal direction and to make up forthe tensile strength not supplied by the first yarns. Thus, the functionof the first yarns are to supply cushion or bulk, While the function ofthe second'yarns are to supply tensile strength.

FIGURE 6 is directed to the embodiment of the present invention in whicha plurality of yarns of different characteristics are used. As shown inFIGURE 6, the oriented fibers 26 have been needled and interlocked withthe spurious fibers of the yarns which are comprised of two differenttypes. The yarns 30 are relatively large and serve to add bulk and voidvolume to the finished felt but may have relatively low tensilestrength. The yarns 32 may be somewhat smaller than the bulk yarns 30but have a relatively high tensile strength and provide strength in theyarn direction to the finished felt. The tensile and bulk yarns may beplaced in separate layers or may be mixed in the same layer.

FIGURE 7 is an alternate embodiment of the structure shown in FIGURE 6in which a plurality of bulk yarns and tensile yarns are used to form anon-woven base. Coarse fibers are then needled to both sides of thenon-woven base and fine fibers are needled to the sheet side, or paperweb contacting side, of the papermakers felt in order to obtain theadvantages of a smooth, flexible surface, as described above.

The terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and there is no intention in the useof such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of thefeatures shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognizedthat various modifications are possible within the scope of theinvention claimed.

What is claimed is:

l. A papermakers felt cruuprisiug a non-wovcn array of yarns having anabundance of spurious fibers, at least one fibrous batt having onesurface substantially contiguous with one surface of said non-wovenarray f yarns, substantial numbers of the fibers in said fibrous battbeing oriented substantially at right angles With respect to the yarnsin said non-woven array, the fibers in said fibrous batt being entangledwith said spurious fibers, said spurious fibers also being entangledwith one another to form a cohesive felt having improved strengthcharacteristics.

2. A papermakers felt as described in claim 1 wherein said non-wovenarray of yarns comprises more than one layer of substantially parallelyarns.

3. A papermakers felt as described in claim 1 wherein the fibers in saidfibrous batt are relatively coarse fibers; and further including asecond fibrous batt of less coarse fibers, one surface of said batt ofless coarse fibers being substantially contiguous with the surface ofsaid batt of relatively coarse fibers not contiguous with said non-wovenarray of yarns, the less coarse fibers being entangled with saidrelatively coarse fibers to form a papermakers felt.

4. A papermakers felt as described in claim 1 wherein at least of saidoriented fibers are laid with their longitudinal axes within 15 degreesof the normal to the longitudinal axes of said non-woven parallel oflayer yarns.

5. A papermakers felt as described in claim 1 having a batt of orientedfibers substantially contiguous with each surface of said non-wovenarray of yarns.

6. A papermakers felt as described in claim 5 wherein the fibers in oneof said batts of oriented fibers are relatively coarse and the fibers inthe other of said batts of oriented fibers are relatively less coarse.

7. A papermakers felt for transporting Webs of paper through papermakingmachinery comprising a base fabric having first and second layers ofnon-Woven, substantially parallel, fuzzy spuriously fibered yarns, saidfirst layer of yarns being relatively large in diameter and supplyingcushion and bulk to the felt, said second layer of yarns beingrelatively small in diameter and having high tensile strength, aplurality of fibers oriented substantially at right angles with respectto the direction of said yarns disposed on each side of said basefabric, said fibers being needled to and entangled with the spuriousfibers of said yarns, said spurious fibers also being needled to andentangled with one another, to form a compact porous papermakers felt.

8. A papermakers felt for transporting webs of paper through papermakingmachinery comprising a base fabric having first and second substantiallyparallel fuzzy spuri ously fibered yarns, said first yarns beingrelatively large in diameter and supplying cushion and bulk to thefinished felt, said second yarns being relatively small in diameter andhaving relatively high tensile strength, at least one layer ofrelatively coarse fibers disposed on each side of said base fabric andoriented substantially at right angles with respect to said base fabricyarns, at least one layer of relatively fine fibers disposed on one sideof said relatively coarse fibers and being oriented at substantiallyright angles with respect to said base fabric yarns, said coarse fibersbeing needled to and entangled with the spurious fibers of said basefabric yarns, the spurious fibers of said base fabric yarns beingneedled to and entangled with one another, and said fine fibers beingneedled to and entangled with at least the adjacent coarse fibers toprovide a soft non-marking uniform surface to a paper web as it istransported to the papermaking machinery.

9. A papermakers felt as described in claim 8 wherein said relativelycoarse fibers are selected from the group consisting of synthetic fibershaving a coarseness of at least 10 denier and natural fibers having acoarseness of at least 44 wool grade and said relatively fine fibers areselected from the group consisting of synthetic fibers having a finenessof less than 10 denier and natural fibers having a coarseness finer thanat least 44 wool grade.

10. A process for making a papermakers felt for transporting paper websto papermaking machinery comprising the steps of:

(a) disposing at least one yarn in a predetermined non- Woven patternsuch that a plurality of yarn segments are disposed in side by siderelation, each of said yarn segments having a plurality of spuriousfibers extending therefrom, said yarn segments being spaced and sodisposed such that the spurious fibers on adjacent yarn segmentsintermingle With each other so as to form a cohesive base fabric;

(b) placing a plurality of textile fibers on at least one side of saidbase fabric with the longitudinal axes of said textile fibers beingoriented substantially at right angles with respect to the longitudinalaxes of said yarn segments; and

(c) needling the textile fibers to said base fabric so that the textilefibers are entangled with the spurious fibers Without substantialbreaking of the yarn segments and so that the spurious fibers areentangled With one another to form a pepermakers felt having improvedstrength.

11. A process of making a papermakers felt for transporting paper Websthrough paperrnaking machinery comprising the steps of abrading at leastone continuous yarn to form a plurality of spurious fibers thereon;disposing same in helical patterns such that spurious fibers on adjacentyarn segments engage one other to form a cohesive base fabric With thelongitudinal axes of said yarn segments lying in the desired machinedirection of the finished fabric; disposing a plurality of textilefibers on at least one side of said base fabric with the longitudinalaxes of said textile fibers being oriented substantially at right anglesWith respect to the longitudinal axes of said yarn segments; andneedling said textile fibers to said base fabric to entangle saidtextile fibers With said spurious fibers and to entangle the spuriousfibers from adjacent yarn segments with one another, said needlingoccurring without substantial breakage of said yarn segments in order toform a felt having increased strength in the direction of theorientation of the textile fibers and to provide a smooth surface to thepaper Web.

12. A process for making a papermakers felt for transporting paper Websthrough papermaking machinery comprising the steps of abrading at leastone continuous yarn to form a plurality of spurious fibers thereon;disposing same in a helical pattern such that spurious fibers onadjacent yarn segments engage each other and form a cohesive basefabric, the longitudinal axes of said yarn segments lying in the desiredmachine direction of the finished felt; disposing a plurality ofrelatively coarse textile fibers on each side of said base fabric withthe longitudinal axes of said relatively coarse textile fibers beingoriented substantially at right angles with respect to the longitudinalaxe(s) of said yarn segments; needling said relatively coarse textilefibers to said base fabric in order to entangle said relatively coarsetextile fibers with said spurious fibers and to entangle the spuriousfibers from adjacent yarn segments with one another, without substantialbreakage of said yarn segments; disposing a plurality of relatively finetextile fibers on at least one side of the already needled structurewith the longitudinal axes of said relatively fine fibers being orientedsubstantially at right angles with respect to the longitudinal axes ofsaid yarn segments; and needling said relatively fine fibers to thealready needled structure in order to entangle said relatively finetextile fibers With the already needled structure without substantialbreakage of said yarn segments so as to form a felt having increasedstrength in the direction of the textile fibers and to provide a smoothsurface to the paper Web.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,062,877 5/1913 Bogani et al2872.3 XR 2,165,772 7/1939 Walsh et al 161-80 XR 2,401,314 6/1946 Quinn161-91 XR 2,943,379 7/1960 Foltz 161141 2,991,536 7/1961 Moler 161703,097,413 7/1963 Draper 28-722 XR 3,208,125 9/1965 Hall et al. 284

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner.

JACOB H. STEINBERG, Examiner.

W. A. POWELL, Assistant Examiner.

1. A PAPERMAKERS'' FELT COMPRISING A NON-WOVEN ARRAY OF YARNS HAVING ANABUNDANCE OF SPURIOUS FIBERS, AT LEAST ONE FIBROUS BATT HAVING ONESURFACE SUBSTANTIALLY CONTIGUOUS WITH ONE SURFACE OF SAID NON-WOVENARRAY OF YARNS, SUBSTANTIAL NUMBERS OF THE FIBERS IN SAID FIBROUS BATTBEING ORIENTED SUBSTANTIALLY A RITGHT ANGLES WITH RESPECT TO THE YARNSIN SAID NON-WOVEN ARRAY, THE FIBERS IN SAID FIBROUS BATT BEING ENTANGLEDWITH SAID SPURIOUS FIBERS, SAID SPURIOUS FIBERS ALSO BEING ENTANGLEDWITH ONE ANOTHER TO FORM A COHESIVE FELT HAVING IMPROVED STRENGTHCHARACTERISTICS.